How to take the edge off those panic attacks
Mental health, an innocuous enough word that causes an enormous amount of human misery.
In 2016 the World Health Organisation (WHO) released the findings from an analysis conducted that revealed without scaled-up treatment a staggering 12 billion working days worldwide will be lost to depression and anxiety disorders each year. Those statistics alone are pretty telling about the state of people’s mental health.
For a person suffering from an anxiety disorder, it permeates the very fabric of their lives and tears apart job performance, school work and relationships.
It’s a constant presence that without medical or psychological intervention becomes worse over time.
There are several types of anxiety disorder but one of the most prevalent is panic disorder.
Those who suffer from a panic disorder experience recurrent and unexpected panic attacks. The attacks can come out of the blue and are sudden periods of intense fear that come on quickly and reach their peak within minutes. Other triggers which could trigger a panic attack could be a feared object or situation
During a panic attack, people may experience:
- Heart palpitations, a pounding heartbeat, or an accelerated heart rate
- Sweating
- Trembling or shaking
- Sensations of shortness of breath, smothering or choking
- Feelings of impending doom
- Feelings of being out of control
People with panic disorder often worry about when the next attack will happen and go out of their way to prevent future attacks by avoiding places, situations, or behaviours they associate with panic attacks.
ALSO READ: Mental Health: In Our Own Words
So what natural interventions are at hand to help you out? According to Healthyplace.com, the following tools can assist:
- Have an exit plan. Sometimes just knowing you have a plan to leave a situation helps.
- Have someone you can count on to call. Someone who knows about the anxiety and can tell you it all will be ok.
- Spend time with your pet. Animals tend to ease anxiety.
- Interact with water. There is something about water that stops the energy of panic. Sometimes crying releases it (tears). However, consider taking a hot bath or shower for immediate relief.
- Give yourself a massage or have your loved one give you one.
- Forward bend. Like in the foetal position, any forward bend in yoga counters anxiety.
- Stare at yourself in the mirror. This is called tratak meditation and it helps build trust in yourself. Do this when you are calm to prevent anxiety and panic.
- Go for a walk. Get a change of scenery and use up some of that excess energy.
- Laugh. Watch some funny videos as laughter and anxiety cannot live in the same moment together.
- But above all breathe. Take a long, slow breath in through your nose. Hold your breath to the count of “three.” Exhale slowly through pursed lips, while you relax the muscles in your face, jaw, shoulders, and stomach.
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